Garuda
Director: Monthon Arayangkoon
Cast: Sarah Legge, Sonram Teppinat, Daniel
Fraser
Year: 2004
Running Time: 108 minutes
“Garuda is a mythical bird with the head and
wings of a phoenix and the body and limbs of a man. He is said to be the
vehicle of Lord Vishnu. He plays an important role in Hindu and Buddhist
mythology. In countries like Thailand, where the national religion is Buddhism,
Garuda is revered as a deity”*.
The Garuda is part of the Royal Flag of Thailand and is a revered figure
and so when this film was made there were some negative rumblings that
this was disrespectful – but the film went on to be a hit at the box office
Thailand has a bit of a tradition of monsters
in films that usually revolved around their mythical creatures, but this
film feels much more like a play for the modern audience that are fans
of Japanese Kaiju Eiga films starring Godzilla and Gamera. This isn’t up
to the recent films of those two in terms of entertainment or production
values, but it still has some fun contained within though it would have
felt much fresher if it had been made fifteen years ago. Throw some influences
from “Predator” and “King Kong” into this film as well. The main problems
with this film though are that the three main characters are more than
a little irritating and unsympathetic and there is a tendency of the narrative
to eat up time and slow the film to a crawl with side issues around being
“Thai” enough.
They are digging deep into the earth in order
to build a subway in Bangkok when they come across something strange that
is impeding their way*. With evidence that it may be an ancient artifact,
they call in a half Thai/half French female archeologist and her male farang
co-worker to take a look at it. When these two get to the site though they
discover that an elite very hostile military group has been brought on
the scene as well – “God Killers” as one of them later describes themselves.
The reason for their presence soon becomes apparent as a giant Garuda has
been discovered and it doesn’t seem pleased to have been awoken – sort
of like me on a Sunday morning - and it is soon hunting them down through
the caves and tunnels beneath the earth.
The Garuda though seems to have an attraction
for the archeologist though and one can’t really blame it as she (Sarah
Legge) is quite attractive when she is not whining. Unfortunately, she
spends a good portion of the film doing just that while the farang (westerner)
is forced to make dorky expressions throughout the film. This is not a
very farang friendly film and even though she is half Thai it’s not Thai
enough for the natives. Eventually, the Garuda comes above ground and creates
havoc in the city – demolishing much of MBK Center (a very cool mall) and
flying
through the sky. The special effects aren’t bad, but you know a film is
in trouble when the monster is more likable than the humans you are suppose
to be rooting for.
* Bangkok is basically built on a swamp and
for that reason their metro system – the Sky Train – was built above ground
– so the chances of really discovering a Garuda underground in Bangkok
are very slight!
My rating for this film: 6.0